Ladislav Macháček: Formal and Informal Education of Secondary School Students in Slovakia about Democratic Citizenship

Citizenship education has undergone transforma-tion since 1989 when democratic changes in Slovakia began. Our research of secondary school students in 2005 and 2007 confirmed that academic subjects such as Citizenship Education and Social Studies have taken important position in the formal education of students about parliamentary democracy and citizens participation in political processes.

Due to the 2003 Act of School Self-Government, student councils in secondary schools can be established and it is this framework where the informal education of students takes place. In 2005 such councils existed in as many as 50 % of secondary schools in Slovakia. Our surveys of participation of secondary school students in school self-governments revealed that a kind of participatory pyramid is being formed which reflects the logics of participatory democracy. Data of surveys in 2005 and 2007 revealed similar trends. About 75 % of secondary schools students in our samples replied that were informed about the existence of students council in their school, 30 % students took part in the school council elections, and approximately 11 % of secondary school students ran in the students school council elections.

PEDAGOGIKA SK, 2010, Vol. 1. (No. 4: 273-293)

Key words: citizen, participation, democratic citizenship education, school self-government PEDAGOGIKA.